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Uncovering young children's psychological selves: individual and developmental differences
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis 95616.
Child Development
|June 1, 1990
Summary
Young children possess stable self-concepts, demonstrating psychological understanding and individual differences. This study developed a new method to assess these early self-perceptions in children aged 3 to 8.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychology
- Self-Concept Research
Background:
- Understanding the development of self-concept in early childhood is crucial.
- Previous methods may not adequately capture young children's psychological self-understanding.
- Research is needed to explore individual differences and their stability over time.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if young children (3.5-7.5 years) have consistent psychological self-concepts.
- To identify individual differences in children's self-concepts.
- To determine the temporal stability of these self-concept differences.
Main Methods:
- Developed a novel assessment method for young children's self-concepts.
- Presented 180 children (3-8 years) with bipolar adjective scales across 10 psychological dimensions.
- Utilized factor analysis to construct higher-order factor scales from dimensional scores.
Main Results:
- Factor scales demonstrated internal consistency and psychological meaningfulness across age groups.
- Substantial individual differences in self-concept were evident, even in the youngest children.
- These individual differences showed moderate stability over a one-month test-retest period.
Conclusions:
- Young children possess psychologically meaningful self-concepts.
- Significant individual variations in self-concept emerge early in development.
- These early self-concept differences exhibit moderate temporal stability, suggesting foundational self-understanding.